Regret
by DocMcRegals
Summary: Derek's relationship with his 16-year-old daughter Carson is already strained. What happens when a heated argument leads to an accident? 6x22/6x23 Canon Divergent AU. Prequel to the "Fighting Our Way" series. Eventual Addek endgame.


" _It's a common belief that positive thinking leads to a happier healthier life. As children we are told to smile, be cheerful and put on a happy face. As adults we are told to look on the bright side, to make lemonade, and see glasses as half full. Sometimes reality can get in the way of our ability to act the happy part, though. Your health can fail, boyfriends can cheat, friends can disappoint. It's in these moments when you just want to get real, to drop the act, and be your true scared unhappy self. Ask most people what they want out of life and the answer is simple: to be happy. Maybe it's this expectation though of wanting to be happy that just keeps us from ever getting there. Maybe the more we try to will ourselves to states of bliss, the more confused we get-to the point where we don't recognize ourselves. Instead, we just keep smiling-trying like hell to be the happy people we wish we were. Until eventually, it hits us, it's been there all along. Not in our dreams or our hopes but in the unknown, the comfortable, the familiar"-_ **Meredith Grey**

oOoOoOo

Carson hated the rain; it was a symbol of nothing but bad fortunes. Whenever it rained she could easily be found curled up on a sofa snuggled under a blanket with a good book. However on this particular day, she was stuck at the hospital waiting for her father to finish up his meetings.

"I hate this fucking place," she murmured to herself, causing her 10-year-old brother Ryan to look up from his video game.

"Oh don't look at me like that Ry, this place is terrible!" Carson said as Ryan looked at her sheepishly.

"Actually…" Carson sighed, turning her attention back towards the rain.

"Don't finish that sentence because something tells me you like Seattle more than I do," Carson sighed as she watched the busy cars from the freeway pass the hospital.

She used to love hospitals when she was a little girl, back when things were so simple. Now, she hated them; to Carson, hospital's ruined her family. Ironically, she still wanted to be a doctor just like her parents. She looked down at her phone and sighed; no signal again. She really wanted to talk to her mom, particularly to give her a piece of her mind.

Sure, she understood that she and Ryan were required to spend time with their dad but, what was the actual point of visiting Seattle when they saw more of his girlfriend, Meredith, than they did of him? Meredith Grey was the last person Carson wanted to see, especially since it was Meredith that caused her father to stop caring about their family. Okay so, that wasn't entirely true but, it was Meredith that caused her mother to leave Seattle for Los Angeles.

Carson's eyes were trained on the rain, lighting up when a patch of lightning began to move across the sky. She may have associated the rain with bad things, but she couldn't resist watching it. It brought her a strange sense of comfort; however, this time, the rain was unable to help her simmering anger and her growling stomach.

"That's it, I can't take this anymore," she muttered to herself before she stood up, turning her attention to her little brother.

"Stay here, I'm gonna try and go find dad," Ryan gave her a simple shrug before his eyes were glued to the screen of his video game once more.

oOoOo

Carson knew the hospital like the back of her hand; she knew were all of the offices were, where the OR's were located, the attending's lounge, the conference rooms. She knew what department resided on which floor. She even knew about all of the secret intern and resident hangouts. She'd practically grown up in the hospital over the last 6 years; she'd be an idiot not to know where everything was. As she walked down the hall in search of her father, she gave the nurses and attendings warm smiles.

Of course, she knew that their smiles were fake seeing as everyone at Seattle Grace Hospital hated her mother. Well, that's not exactly true, but her father was definitely more popular than her mother was. Once she made it to the surgical floor she stopped as she scanned floor to see if she could spot her father. As usual, Derek Shepherd was nowhere to be found.

"Goddammit," she sighed, running a hand through her hair as she spoke loud enough to garner people's attention.

"Has anyone seen my dad? He was supposed to take us to dinner 30 minutes ago!" The longer she waited, the more she became increasingly annoyed, especially when no one seemed to know her father's whereabouts.

"Derek Christopher Shepherd, chief of surgery, about this tall, great hair, they call him McDreamy, anyone seen him? Anyone? Ugh! I'm starving! He's probably in some stupid board meeting or something…I hate him being chief," she grumbled before stalking off towards the attending's lounge in search of one of the few people who might know where her father could possibly be hiding.

oOoOo

"So, how are you enjoying having little Shepherd and baby McDreamy staying with you?" Cristina Yang asked her best friend as the two of them, along with Alex Karev, Izzie Stevens, and Lexie Grey sat in the resident's lounge.

"Ryan's a great kid; he never gives Derek any trouble, but Carson…" Meredith sighed heavily. She wasn't cut out for this stepmom stuff. Stepmom wasn't a term she was particularly comfortable with and Carson sure as hell wasn't comfortable with her using it either.

"She's 16 and she's stuck in Seattle; I'd be a bitch too if I were in her shoes. From what I hear, her life in LA is pretty great," Izzie Stevens chimed in as Lexie Grey rolled her eyes.

"I happen to live with the girl and she's so…vapid and shallow," the younger Grey girl gripped "She's 16 Lex; she and Derek don't exactly have the best relationship," Meredith argued.

"Little Shep's old enough to know what happened between her parents, which is why she took Addison's side in the divorce," Alex Karev said with a shrug before leaning forward to grab a slice of pizza.

"I beg to differ; Baby McDreamy didn't take sides," Cristina pointed out.

"Cristina's got a point, Alex," Izzie said

"The kid's 10; he was barely alive when all of the crap when down. Besides, all he does is play video games like any other 10-year-old kid," Alex reminded them.

"What are you people doing sitting around like there aren't trauma's happening in this hospital?" Dr. Bailey stood at the door of the resident's lounge giving her interns a ferocious scowl as they all hurried to find something to do.

oOoOo

Mark Sloan and Callie Torres were laughing quietly as they walked down the hallway, following their perspective surgeries.

"Hey, isn't that Carson?" Callie said pointing to the young woman looking around.

"She's probably looking for Derek," Mark muttered just as he locked eyes with Carson who instantly grinned at him.

"Uncle Mark!" she said in a sing-song voice as she walked up to her father's best friend flashing him her sweetest smile she could

"Oh God…she's about to do it," Mark said as Callie looked at him in confusion.

"Do what?"

"She wants something; she's about to play her best goddaughter card to get something; she knows I can't resist her face. I mean she looks _exactly_ like Addison, and she knows I _can't_ say no to Addison."

"Oh, you are whipped," Callie teased just as Carson walked up to them

"Hey Uncle Mark; oh, hey Callie,"

"Hey Carson, how's it going? How's your mom doing?" Callie asked as Carson smiled at her; she always liked Dr. Torres.

"She's doing good; hey Uncle Mark," Carson said, wrapping her arms around his neck

"Hi Carley,"

"How much do you love your favorite Goddaughter in the whole wide world?"

"You're my only goddaughter…" Mark said with a sigh

"That's beside the point Uncle Mark," Carson said, batting her eyelashes at him.

"Alright, what do you want Carson?"

"I want to use your car,"

"You wanna use my what? You're insane!"

"Aw come on Uncle Mark! I have my driver's license," Carson said as Mark eyed her skeptically.

"Addison's letting _you_ drive _?_ As bad as _she_ drives she's letting _you_ drive?"

"Funny, very funny Uncle Mark; mom bought me a car for my birthday, remember? Shiny white BMW with the big shiny pink bow on to; you came to my party…"

"I can't seem to recall," Mark said with a smirk as Carson sighed heavily.

"Oh come on Uncle Mark! I'll be good!"

"I'll be good!" Mark mimicked.

"Hey! Don't mock me! I'm serious!" Carson scowled

"I'm serious!"

"Uncle Mark!"

"Uncle Mark! It's not funny!"

"It's not funny!"

"Okay I'm telling daddy,"

"What are you, 6?"

"No…" Carson said, looking down at her feet as Mark sighed heavily as he reached out to give her shoulder a squeeze.

"You miss that don't you, having your dad around huh?"

"…So are you gonna let me see your car or not?"

"I don't know…"

"I promise I'm a responsible driver! Please? Please? Please, Please, Please with sugar on top and ice cream in the middle and…"

"Alright fine! Geez!"

"Thank you, Uncle Mark! I'll be careful I promise,"

"Don't go far Carley…your dad's probably gonna kill me for this," Mark muttered.

"I promise you won't be sorry you let me drive." she said giving him a quick peck on the cheek as she scooped up her designer bag and headed out the door.

"20 bucks says she wrecks your car," Callie said with a smirk.

"50 bucks says Derek finds out what I did and kills me," Mark muttered, watching as his goddaughter made her way outside to his car.

oOoOo

Derek opened the door to his office and smiled, though his smile faltered when he saw his two children sitting on the sofa eating Chinese food.

"What's all this? I thought we were supposed to be going out to dinner?" Derek said, dropping his suitcase near the door as he ruffled his son's hair.

"We got tired of waiting so I used Uncle Mark's car to-" Carson began as Derek frowned.

"You used Mark's car?" Derek asked as Carson nodded.

"No big deal dad, I have my license, mom lets me drive all of the time," Carson shrugged.

"Carson this is Seattle and the weather is dangerous; you could've been hurt or killed," Derek scolded.

"Relax dad, it's fine; Ryan and I got dinner, you got to finish doing…whatever it was you were doing. Problem solved," Derek sighed heavily as he stood in front of his daughter, clearly upset with her behavior.

"It's not okay Carson and Mark should know better than to-"

"Don't be so hard on Uncle Mark dad,"

"Fine, then I'll be hard on you; you're grounded, one week," Derek said as Carson's eyes widened.

"What?! You're grounding me because I went and got food?! That's such bull-"

"Do not finish that sentence young lady; I'm grounding you because you didn't listen to me. Carson, I understand that you're 16 and you wanna drive but this isn't Los Angeles. Seattle is dangerous and I'm pretty sure you used your charm to manipulate Mark into letting you drive his car,"

"So basically I'm grounded because I didn't wanna starve while waiting around for you to get done? Nice dad, real nice," Carson snapped as Derek sighed, holding out his hand for her cell phone.

"No way! I am not giving up my cell phone!" Carson shouted.

"Carson, cell phone, now," Derek demanded, but Carson still refused.

"No! You don't pay the bill mom does!"

"Carson I don't have time for this; grounded means no cell phone, or TV, or computer. It means you either sit at my house all day doing nothing or you sit here in the conference room all day doing nothing," Derek said as Carson huffed, handing over her cell phone.

"Fine, being here with you is punishment enough anyways," the teenager muttered.

"Meredith, can you drop Carson off at home for me?" Derek said as Meredith nodded.

"I'm not going anywhere with her…I don't have to listen to her, she's not my mother and she _certainly_ isn't your wife…you guys got married on a _post-it_ , that doesn't count"

"Carson, I don't-" Derek began as his daughter finally lost her cool.

"What? 'I don't have time for this Carson'? Oh, I know! You have to work to do or a surgery to perform! Whatever, just leave me, alone dad," Carson sighed as she motioned for her younger brother to follow her.

"Carson, don't walk away from me," Derek said as he followed his daughter into the hallway.

"What the hell do you want from me?!" Carson shouted.

"Watch your language!" Derek shouted back as Carson glared at him.

"Look, you're sending me home so I'm going; what more could you possibly want from me?"

"My patience is wearing very thin; I don't know how much more of your back talk I can take. We'll talk more when I get there,"

"No, we won't because I'm done talking to you Derek," Carson said, still ignoring her father as she continued to make her way towards the elevators.

"Since when did I become Derek?"

"Since you started acting like an asshole" Carson muttered

"I'm sorry what did you just say?" Derek asked, raising an eyebrow at his daughter.

"Nothing; fine, whatever you say, _Dr. Shepherd,_ "

" _Dr. Shepherd_? Oh, so now I'm _Dr. Shepherd_ ,"

"Yeah, because you're sure as hell not acting like my dad right now,"

"You're not acting like the daughter I raised,"

"Technically you didn't raise me… mom did that because you were hardly ever around to do that," Carson muttered, though she instantly regretted the words once they came out of her mouth.

"Dad I-"

"Go Carson; just get out of my sight! I don't have time for this dammit! I have a hospital to run! People's lives are in danger and I don't have time for you to be acting like a spoiled little brat! I don't know how Addison is raising you in LA but when you're here you're not gonna tell me I'm a terrible parent, because if we're gonna talk about terrible parents I'm not the one who screwed my best friend, your mother did that." Derek said, though he too regretted the words once they came out of his mouth, especially after seeing the look on Ryan's face.

"What's he talking about Carson?" Ryan asked his sister who looked at their father completely horrified.

"Nothing Ry, dad's just being an asshole, that's all. Come on, let's go," Carson said, doing her best to hold back her tears as she and her brother got into the elevator.

"But Carson-" Ryan protested as his sister snapped at him.

"Let it go, Ryan!"

"Sorry, I asked," Ryan mumbled as he followed Carson into the elevator.

"I hope you're happy, dad," Carson said as the doors to the elevators closed, leaving Derek alone in the middle of the surgical floor remembering the look of hurt on his children's faces.

oOoOo

Derek sat in his office with a glass of scotch and sighed heavily. How had his life fallen apart so badly? When he married Addison, he never expected things to turn out so sour between them. Sure they were civil towards one another for the sake of their kids, but everyone knew what transpired between them. What made matters even worse was that there were two kids caught in the crossfire of mess between them. Was he really wrong for how he reacted with Carson? Yes and no; he was wrong for being so harsh with her but he'd let his frustrations get the better of him.

He was scared for her safety, especially with what was going on with Gary Clarke's wife. Sure, the issues were totally separate but Derek knew just how dangerous it was to drive in Seattle during bad weather. Carson was used to driving in Los Angeles which was considerably safer in terms of weather. However, he could've taken a break sooner to go and get his children something to eat. He sighed once more before pouring himself an even larger glass of scotch.

"If I were you, I'd put the scotch away," Richard Webber said, causing Derek to look up at him.

"Richard, I didn't know you were there," Derek said quietly.

"I was coming to see if you were okay; I heard about your blow up with Carson earlier," Richard looked at Derek sympathetically before making his way into his former office.

"Did you ever want kids with Adele?" Derek asked as Richard took a seat across from him.

"Adele wanted kids; I wanted to be successful, that's what I wanted. I was a lot like you Derek; I was young, one of the best in my field. I felt like I had something to prove because I was a Black man, and at that time I did. So I worked hard, put all of my focus and my energy into work. The only real difference between you and me is that I didn't have a Mark Sloan in my life. But I did have Ellis and man, was it tough. I didn't plan on falling in love with Meredith's mother but, the more time you spend with someone, sharing your hopes and dreams and secrets with well…you know how that goes,"

"That wasn't what happened between me and Meredith," Derek defended.

"No, you were pissed off, met a cute girl at a bar, and took her home to help you get over the betrayal of your wife cheating on you with your best friend," Richard pointed out; it was true, that was how his relationship with Meredith started out.

"She's like a breath of fresh air for me Richard; I love her,"

"You loved Addison too,"

"Addie was different; we only looked good on paper, that was it," Richard sighed heavily before he stood up.

"Sometimes Derek, what we want, isn't always what we need. Instead of fighting for your marriage, you took the easy way out and you ran away. Tell me something, when Addison was here, did you try and really work on your marriage because you wanted to, or did you stay for the sake of your kids?" Derek sat completely flabbergastered by Richard's words.

"The look of shock on your face tells me all that I need to know. The sad part is, you don't even see how big of a part you played a part in what happened to your marriage. Derek, I've known you since just before Carson was born. I know you and Addison almost better than you know yourselves; Carson has a right to be upset. Remember, she's seen it all and she remembers everything," Derek shook his head as he watched Richard leave his office.

oOoOo

Meredith was in deep shit; it was raining and Carson was nowhere to be found and neither was her car. She paced back and forth in her living room as her friends stood watching; what was she going to do? Derek had given her one task, get Carson and Ryan home and somehow Carson had managed to steal her car and disappear.

"How the hell she manage to slip out of here unnoticed?" Cristina wondered aloud.

"She's Addison's kid," Alex said with a shrug as Izzie stared at him.

"You seem to know an awful lot about Addison, Alex," Izzie said as Alex rolled his eyes at her.

"She was my mentor before Shepherd ran her off; Carson's always been a clever kid, or do you guys not remember how she managed to get to Seattle Grace without Addison or Derek knowing," Alex reminded them.

 _Seattle-6 and a half years ago_

 _She missed her dad…a lot. He would call her but the calls were really brief, always ending with him telling her that his leaving wasn't her fault, even though she felt like it was. She wasn't a stupid child; she paid close attention to her parent's marriage, how her father barely came home, how her mother would go to bed crying. Carson especially noticed how much time her Uncle Mark had started spending at her house, with her family. Once, when he picked her up from one of her many practices, a kid asked her if he was her mother's boyfriend. It sort of felt that way, especially after she had seen her mother and her Uncle Mark kiss. Maybe daddy had found out about their kiss and that was why he had left. If she could be honest, if her father had come home more, her mother wouldn't have had kiss Uncle Mark._

 _Carson also didn't fail to miss the fact that Uncle Mark became even more of a permanent fixture around her house even now so since her father had disappeared off to, wherever he'd gone to. She also wasn't clueless to the fact that Uncle Mark had been sleeping in her parent's room, with her mother, in the same bed with her, making her mother make all of those noises she would make when daddy was home. Then, there was the way her mother was sick those few days, staying home from work. That was odd for her mother, seeing as she never got sick. Then, there was the fight her mother and Uncle Mark had a couple days later, which resulted in Uncle Mark leaving and her mother going to the doctor; though Aunty Savvy was the one to bring her back home, even though she'd driven herself to the doctor._

 _oOoOo_

 _It wasn't long after that when Richard Webber, or grandpa Richard as she called him, had called her mother saying that he needed her to come to Seattle to consult on a case involving conjoined twins; Seattle, that was where her father was. She was excited about going to Seattle to visit her father; even though she didn't like what he did, she still missed him terribly. When they arrived in Seattle, Addison made sure that Iliana got the children settled in before she headed for the hospital. They're in his city, her mom has to work at his hospital, but she can't go; it's late her mother says._

 _"Aw mom, can't I come with you? I wanna see daddy!" Carson whined._

 _"No honey, it's late and daddy's probably working, you'll see him tomorrow I promise," Addison said kissing her on the top of her head before heading out the door._

 _Carson desperately wanted to see her father. After getting her bath, she told Iliana that she was tired and was going to bed early. Once Iliana had taken Ryan into the bathroom to give him a bath, Carson crept out of bed and went into Iliana's purse and took 50 dollars and crept out the door. Once she got outside, she was instantly able to hail a cab (thanks to Mark, who had taught her 2 years earlier)._

 _"Hey kid, where are your parents?" the driver asked_

 _"Can you take me to Seattle Grace Hospital, please?" she said flashing him her sweetest smile_

 _"You got money?"_

 _"Will 50 bucks cover it?"_

 _The driver quickly took the money and drove straight to the hospital. Carson stood outside of the hospital for a split second before entering. She stood for a moment as she searched for where the surgical floor was. She quickly spotted a nurse and asked her. Once she got off the elevator, she spotted a blonde haired doctor._

 _"Hi," Carson said smiling up at her_

 _"Hi," The young woman replied_

 _"My name's Carson what's yours?"_

 _"I'm Dr. Stevens, but you can call me Izzie; it's nice to meet you Carson…are you lost?"_

 _"Uh yeah, I can't find my parents," Carson said innocently as Izzie helped her search for her parents; after a while, Izzie got a page and had to leave._

 _"Oh darn it! I've gotta go, I could have someone else help you look?" Izzie said_

 _"No, I think I can find them,"_

 _After Izzie walked away, Carson stood in the middle of the busy hallway, looking for someone who might have a clue as to where her parents would be, before spotting a brown haired looking doctor._

 _"Excuse me," Carson said sweetly to the young man who remained working on his charts_

 _"Excuse me," Carson said again, tapping him on the shoulder_

 _"What do you want? I'm busy," he said snapping at her_

 _"Gosh, to be a doctor, you're pretty rude," Carson said rolling her eyes_

 _"Who are you and where are your parents anyway?"_

 _"I'm Carson and I can't find my parents…who are you?"_

 _"I'm Alex,"_

 _"So, Alex, think you can help me find my parents?"_

 _After walking around the hall for 20 minutes, Carson spotted an office with Derek's name on it_

 _"I see my daddy's office; I'll wait in there, thanks, Alex,"_

 _"Yeah, whatever," Alex said as he walked away_

 _2 hours later_

 _After her altercation with Derek and talking to the chief, Addison prepared to go back to her hotel. Just as she was leaving, she got a call from Iliana saying that Carson had gone missing. She quickly searched for Derek, finding him talking to Dr. Burke._

 _"I thought you were going back to your hotel?" Derek said coldly_

 _"I was but Iliana just called and said Carson's gone missing,"_

 _"Missing?"_

 _"That's what I said, Carson's gone missing, now, are you going to stop hating me long enough to help me find our daughter or are you going to just stand there?"_

 _Alex was heading back to the nurses' station when he heard Derek and Addison talking about Carson, he paused and looked at them._

 _"Sorry to interrupt, but did you say you're looking for a kid named Carson? About this tall red hair, looks just like her?" he said pointing at Addison_

 _"Yeah Karev, my daughter, have you seen her?" Derek asked_

 _"Dude, she's in your office," Alex said simply before turning and walking away_

 _Addison and Derek rushed to his office to find Carson fast asleep on the couch. Derek smiled at the sight of his daughter._

 _"Carley, hey princess, wake up," Derek said softly as Carson fluttered her eyes open._

 _"Daddy! I missed you," she said sitting up hugging his neck as her eyes met with Addison's._

 _"She's pretty mad," Derek whispered into Carson's ear as he picked her up off of the sofa._

 _"Shh," Carson whispered back._

 _"I can hear you two you know," Addison said as she walked over to Derek and Carson, who instantly pretended to be asleep_

 _"Nice try Carson, but I know you're not asleep," Addison said as moved to sit beside her daughter and her soon to be ex-husband._

 _"I'm in big trouble aren't I?" Carson asked as she looked up at both her parents_

 _"Oh yeah, big trouble," Addison and Derek said as the three of them sat on the couch_

 _"So, exactly how did you get here?" Derek asked_

 _"I uh, took a cab and I remembered mom saying you worked at Seattle Grace,"_

 _"You hailed a taxi?" Addison asked_

 _"Yes…"_

 _"Where'd you learn to do that?" Derek asked_

 _"Uncle Mark,"_

 _"I should've known…So you hailed a cab, but how'd you pay for it?" Addison_

 _"I um, I_ _borrowed_ _some money from Iliana,"_

 _"You borrowed some money? Is that what we're calling it these days 'borrowing' money?" Derek said_

 _"How much did you steal?"Addison asked_

 _"50 dollars,"_

 _"Well, you're going to have to give that back to her…I'm thinking work off what you owe her,"_

 _"Aw, but mom!"_

 _"No butts, you stole from your nanny and you ran away Carson and that is unacceptable"_

 _Once Addison turned her head, Derek slipped Carson a 50 to give back to Iliana._

 _"Don't tell your mother," He mouthed to her as Addison led her away from his office_

" _Gotcha" she mouthed back, slipping the 50 into her pocket….She worked off her 'debt' to Iliana; she used the 50 dollars Derek gave her to pay Iliana back and pocketed the 50 Addison gave her._

oOoOo

"Now that you mention it, I do remember meeting her; I never knew whose kid she was," Izzie said.

"That's beside the point, Carson's gone missing and she's stolen my car. Derek said she just got her driver's license a few months ago. It's raining out and Derek was freaked out that she'd been driving in the rain. If something happens to her…"

"Mere, maybe it's time you call Derek or maybe even Addison," Alex said as everyone looked at him.

"Are you insane? Addison would kill me!" Meredith shouted.

"Hey, it's worth a shot and nobody knows that kid better than Addison. You'd better call Addison before Carson does, otherwise, you're dead either way," Alex reminded her.

Meredith sighed; she had to do something because there was no way in hell that she could tell Derek that his daughter had somehow managed to run away while under her watch. However, before Meredith could make a move, the front door to her house swung open. Everyone's eyes were trained on the door, hoping that it was Carson coming in. Instead, everyone's worse nightmare, Derek was home and had tears in his eyes.

"What the hell happened Meredith?" Derek's expression was anything but good, it was a look that sent chills down his spine.

"Derek…" Meredith began though he held up a hand to stop her.

"Where is she? Carson? Carson!" Derek pushed past her, bolting up the stairs in hopes to find his daughter safe and sound in her room. Instead, he came back downstairs absolutely furious.

"I trusted you to bring her home and keep her safe and this is what you do?! You let her out of your sight and…" Meredith stood completely still, a sinking feeling in her gut as she timidly asked,

"Derek, what happened?" He sighed, running a hand through his wet hair before responding.

"Addison called, yelling, screaming at me about how could I be so irresponsible and let Carson drive in this kind of weather. I didn't know what she was talking about, and then she said Carson called her, crying. She told her what happened earlier and apparently Carson was on the road and…Meredith, where is she, what happened?" She had never seen him so shaken, so distraught, so upset before in her life.

"Derek, I swear I brought them home and she went upstairs and slammed the door. She never came back down after that. It wasn't until Ryan came downstairs and told me Carson wasn't in her room. I looked everywhere and that's when I noticed that my car keys were gone. Derek…"

"If something happens to her, if she, if she…I need to find my daughter, I need to find her," Derek mumbled before heading back outside in the rain.

 _To be Continued…_


End file.
